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Beat

Play trailer Poster for Beat R 2000 1h 29m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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57% Tomatometer 7 Reviews 37% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
The true story of two murders that shaped the lives of several college students who went on to become some of the most influential writers of the Beat Generation.
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Beat

Critics Reviews

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J. R. Jones Chicago Reader 04/07/2010
Ron Livingston is excellent as Ginsberg, the film's de facto narrator, and Kiefer Sutherland is admirably restrained in the role of Burroughs. Go to Full Review
Caffeinated Clint Moviehole 03/11/2006
2/5
Put it out of it's misery, please? Go to Full Review
Film Threat 12/06/2005
3/5
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com 08/11/2005
2/5
Film Threat 12/08/2002
3/5
Christopher Null Filmcritic.com 10/22/2002
3/5
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Audience Reviews

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Nesrin U Jun 19 Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad.😒 See more Liam D @Mediawatcher2003 09/05/2024 It has a great cast but the story isn’t that interesting See more 02/23/2017 enjoyable historical/bio-pic my 1 complaint? Sutherland is horribly miscast as Burroughs he hasn't the height or the skinniness of the real Burroughs. See more 02/20/2017 Enjoyed the movie! A nice footnote of the Beat Generation. The movie was more about Joan Vollmer and her relationship with the rest of the gang (Lucien Carr, Allen Ginsberg, and William S Burroughs). If your expecting a more in depth story about the Beat Generation or any of its members, you'll be disappointed. See more 11/23/2015 What this film is trying to achieve is to give a picture of the Beat scene before any of the writing was done. Centered around Joan Wollmer Adams' NYC apartment, the beat triumvirate are assembled and serious. Lucien Carr's murder of David Kemmerer is turned into a novel co-written by Burroughs and Kerouac (not released till after Carr's death, probably for legal reasons). Kill Your Darlings, by the way, treats this time period also. The Mexico, D.F. visit plays up the romantic involvement between Carr and Joan. Courtney Love actually does a decent job in this movie, but it is far from historical. So, the claims of "a true story" are exaggerated. In terms of production quality, even with first string actors, the film has at times a college-movie feel to it. Ironic that Ms. Love, who in the blogosphere might have had a hand in Cobain's untimely demise, is herself cast as a victim in a creative couple. By the way, all the time spent with Joan (Love) typing and writing is sort of interpolated. Whatever she may have been she wasn't a beat poet. See more 07/16/2014 An impressive cast. That's about it. Unless you know the story of these figures already or saw another 'beat' related movie, then you will be lost and not care. This is mostly due to total lack of character backstory or development. I wonder how they managed to even get this cast together for this movie. See more Read all reviews
Beat

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Movie Info

Synopsis The true story of two murders that shaped the lives of several college students who went on to become some of the most influential writers of the Beat Generation.
Director
Gary Walkow
Producer
Donald Zuckerman, Andrew Pfeffer, Alain Silver
Screenwriter
Gary Walkow
Production Co
Background Productions, Walking Pictures, Pfilmco, Pendragon Film, Martien Holdings A.V.V., Beat, LLC, Millenium Pictures
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 29, 2000, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
May 1, 2009
Runtime
1h 29m
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